


Oftentimes Better than A Master of One

by quantum27



Series: flynn has friends (or self indulgent non-legacy au with original encom crew) [5]
Category: Tron (Movies), Tron - All Media Types
Genre: Aromantic, Asexual Character, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Resurrection, Snapshots, ao3 tags are a blessing and a curse, i spent. way too long doing this, i think clu was supposed to be 1's but there's a bunch of 2's in there as well, the clus character tags are a mess because, the first lil bit of the fic is kinda weird?? pls don't stop reading just because it's weird
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26589808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantum27/pseuds/quantum27
Summary: //: RECONFIGURE CLU PROGRAMBEGIN RECONFIGURATION?Y/NYBEGINNING RECONFIGURATION(Or a collection of snapshots of Clu (1)'s life before being derezzed...and rerezzed)
Series: flynn has friends (or self indulgent non-legacy au with original encom crew) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1866916
Comments: 13
Kudos: 29





	Oftentimes Better than A Master of One

**Author's Note:**

> did. did he have a backstory before? No? He does now.

//: RECONFIGURE CLU PROGRAM

BEGIN RECONFIGURATION?

Y/N

Y 

BEGINNING RECONFIGURATION

* * *

_-Forget it, mister high-and-mighty Master Control! -_

_-There you are. Clu?-_

_-Clu?-_

_-specialize in information-_

_-information-_

_-specialize in-_

_-Yeah but you did it, Clu. Not anyone else.-_

_-you did it,-_

_-Not anyone-_

_-Clu.-_

_-Yes, sir.-_

_-haven’t seen any Reds-_

_-Reds-_

_-Any-_

_-Seen any Reds-_

_-Wonder what that’s about?-_

_-Wonder what-_

_-What that’s-_

_-Wonder-_

_-dude, you’re a hacker-_

_-hacker-_

_-pirate program-_

_-you’re a hacker-_

_-dude, you’re a-_

_-You’re serious, aren’t you?-_

_-you-_

_-Serious, aren’t-_

_-You’re-_

_-becoming a stray, or. Death.-_

_-stray-_

_-or-_

_-becoming-_

_-before we do, I'll gladly shake him by the hand.-_

_-before we-_

_-shake him by the-_

_-gladly-_

_-before we-_

_-shake him by the hand.-_

_-my old lightcycle baton?-_

_-lightcycle-_

_-my old-_

_-lightcycle-_

_-baton-_

_-trying to stop the MCP-_

_-shake him by the hand-_

_-stop the MCP-_

_-Master Control Program-_

_-Wonder what that’s-_

_-stop the-_

_-Forget it, mister high-and-mighty-_

_-baring our souls to each other-_

_-souls-_

_-souls-_

_-Clu-_

_-By the way-_

_-Souls to each other-_

_-It’ll be alright, Bit.-_

_-Get out of-_

_-Out of here-_

_-It’ll be-_

_-Bit-_

_-It’ll be alright-_

_-Clu, could you give me a status report?-_

_-Clu, could you-_

_-Status report?-_

_-Microcycle-_

_-Unexpected-_

_-Unexpected delays, this microcycle.-_

_-we’ve finally caught the little hacker-_

_-pirate program-_

_-says his name-_

_-name is-_

_-I’m-_

_-by the way-_

_-caught the little-_

_-Clu?-_

_-Clu-_

_-Clu-_

* * *

  
  


“Excuse me, you’re not supposed to be in here.” 

The authoritative voice echoed in the large room, filled with rows upon rows of tall data-storage units. In front of one of the units, a program had opened one of the drawers, and had taken out a data-pad. The program stiffened slightly, at the voice, then let out a long sigh. He then turned to the conscript that had addressed him. 

// _Program Designation Scan: 95% Probability: Secondary System Admin,_

He took note of the notification, before observing the conscript visually. She was currently scowling at him, and she was wearing one of the usual fashion items in this system; a cloak over her shoulders, bright blue, matching her circuits. 

“Well?” She raised an eyebrow. 

“Apologies,” He replied, with a hesitant smile, gesturing to the data-pad “I was just checking up with my User’s bank account.” 

She frowned, deeper, before walking over to him, her heels clicking loudly across the floor, her high-pinned hair bobbing with each step. 

“Let me see that.” She snapped, and stiffly swept the data-pad out of his hands. 

“Of course.” 

Her eyes flickered over the pad’s contents, analyzing. After a moment her eyes squinted, expecting something that wasn’t there. 

“ _Flynn, Kevin_ ,” She read off, a finger trailing over where she was reading, “...Nothing seems tampered with.” 

He let out a small laugh, “Believe me, I wouldn’t mess with something that didn’t need to be messed with, I’m just an information-gathering program.” 

She raised an eyebrow, “That implies you would mess with something if you- had to?” 

“Information Gathering, and Corrector Program.” He amended, with a slight twinge of an eyebrow. 

“Hmph.” She looked him up and down again, “Next time, check with one of the Sysadmins before coming in here, alright?” 

He nodded, putting on his best face that showed he was earnest. It wouldn’t hurt her to know this was the third time he’d been here. If the programs here did their job correctly he wouldn’t even have to come here anyway. Then he adjusted his black cloak contrasting against his white lightsuit, the yellow circuits flashing as he did so, as he made his way to make his getaway. 

“Wait, what’s your name, program?” He stopped in his tracks, then turned back to the sysadmin, a slight smile on his face. 

“Codified Likeness Utility,” He replied with a slight bow of the head, “Or just _Clu._ ”

* * *

Clu smiled slightly as he exited the building, the buzz of completing a task for his User making his circuits burn bright. He found himself wandering to one of the quieter areas of the New Horizon Bank system. It was a relatively quiet system, compared to the few he’d hopped across in the past. The alleyway he’d chosen was quiet, as he glanced back and forth one more time to make sure no one had chosen to follow him. 

“Your bank statement is corrected, sir.” He said, his tone of voice leveling to it’s usual dry tone compared to the one he’d used earlier.

_“Ha! Nice Job, Clu! Haha…”_ Clu smiled a bit wider as his User’s voice echoed through his ear-pieces. Clu was a bit of a...different program. While most programs (all of the ones he’d met, at least,) had to go to I/O towers to contact and talk with their Users. Clu’s line was a lot more direct. In all his runtime he’d never been to a single tower, the voice of his User instead came through the earpieces he wore. He knew it was an incredible feat, and a very privileged one, so he was always careful when it came to talking to him. 

“Thanks, sir.” 

_“You know, I think you’re ready to go back to the ENCOM system._ ” 

Clu startled, the ENCOM system? He’d originally been written in Flynn's system; but soon after he'd gone to ENCOM, searching for his User’s files that had mysteriously disappeared. Then something in the system had changed- his User had been forced to abandon the system- (fired, the word was fired?). His earliest memories were a bit corrupted due the fact he’d kept searching and he’d ended up in a bit of a pinch, and also that afterwards Flynn had snatched him from the system rather quickly. Since then he’d been hopping between systems, doing various small tasks for his User. 

“If you’re sure, Sir.” He replied with a bit of a waver in his voice. 

_“Absolutely- It’ll take some time for me to get the transfer set up, so ‘til then why don’t you hang around here, eh? It’s a nice quiet system, so you shouldn’t get in any trouble.”_

“No trouble from me, sir.” He replied with a slight nod of confirmation. 

_“Good, Good. Talk to you later!”_ The User’s voice faded, and with it the warmth of it, his circuits dimming slightly. The connection to him was still there of course, but it was in the background of his programming now. 

Clu glanced down at his cloak, wondering what the standard-render fashion was in the ENCOM system. It was a pattern he noticed in systems; there was always a consistency in all program’s renders. In this system it just happened to be cloaks or similar items. He ran a hand through his hair, which was rather choppy, as if someone had used an identity disk to cut it in a moment of impulse; maybe the ENCOM system had hats. He wished he could remember clearly. 

Sure, he had a comprehensive map of the system, and at least a hundred or so pass-codes committed to his memory, but he had no _solid_ memories. And anytime he tried to pull one up, he got memories addled with corruption, not worth the headache they provided. 

He glanced back and forth between the alleyway, before beginning to walk back towards the main road. If Flynn wanted him to rest for a little while, he could do that, there was a club in town, and he was running a little low on energy.

* * *

He’d sat down in a back corner, as to not to draw attention to himself. He was also eager to begin reading his newest book acquisition. He was designed to pick up information and log it in his memory; and if he sometimes picked up book files along the way, there wasn’t even anyone who could be none the wiser. Well, except for his User- but Flynn had never wiped them, so there was that. And if sometimes when crossing from system to system he took a pit stop at a library system- Well…

Clu closed his eyes as he took a sip from his glass, cueing up the book file. _The Scarlet Pimpernel._ Sometimes, when he wasn’t in public he would take out his identity disk and read straight off it, but this was definitely a public space. 

“Hello there.” 

Clu opened his eyes, raising an eyebrow at the voice. He paused the file, then turned to look at the program who had spoken. A tall man, with green circuits, instead of a cloak, a long scarf. 

// _Program Designation Scan: 99.9% Probability: Medic Program_

“Can I help you?” He asked politely as he could, adding extra inflection in his voice to try and rid it of it’s monotonousness. 

The medic smiled widely, and held up his hands, in which he held glasses, “Thought I’d offer the handsome program in the corner a new round?” 

Clu glanced at his glass: it was getting low. 

“And that’s all?” He questioned. 

“Aw, well, I was hoping for some conversation, maybe?” The medic seemed rather earnest. And he wasn’t a security monitor- hopefully he wouldn’t call one either. 

He held out his hand as an invitation, gesturing to the other chair at the table. The medic slid over one of the drinks, smiling brightly. 

“I’m Pix! I’m a medic, and you?” 

“Hm, I’m Clu. I...specialize in information.” 

Pix leaned over the table, leaning his head into his hands, “Really? What does that entail?” 

Clu shifted his feet under the table, wary of the question. “I collect all types of information, for example,” He gestured to the green circuits, “I have some basic medic protocols that I learned-” He faltered, he wasn’t exactly sure where he picked them up, perhaps during his stint at ENCOM? “-Or for example I have a small literary collection.” 

“Intriguing,” Pix didn’t seem to pick up his slight stumble, “Well, I’m sure my directive is quite obvious to you then. I just fix up programs as they come my way,” He smirked, and then in a low tone said, “I could help you out for example.”

“Do you get a lot of programs that get injured?” Clu asked, ignoring the last bit. This was a calm system, so he couldn’t imagine too many programs getting hurt or otherwise.

Pix’s gaze darkened, “For the most part, no. But there have been some trouble at travel points- There’s these programs from the ENCOM system that keep screwing around.”

Clu raised his eyebrows, finishing off his first glass. 

“I know,” Pix groaned in response to his silence, “ENCOM is like a program’s _dream_ system, but...lately-ugh,” He shook his head, “Let’s put that aside, anyway, that’s no fun to talk about.”

“Does the conversation have to be fun?” He asked, confused. 

“Well no, but it’s hard to flirt when talking about the fact ENCOM’s getting glitched over.” Pix said with a snort, touching the hand Clu still had on the table. 

Clu blinked fast, his hand retracting from the light touch, his circuits flaring pink for a nano-second, “Flirting?” 

Pix’s eyes half-lidded, “Yeah, bit-brain. What, you think I call you handsome and then come over to discuss system stats?” 

“M-Maybe?” Clu ran his hands along the corner of his cloak. This had not been what he’d been expecting from this microcycle. He’d read about plenty of romances, heard stories, but for some reason the idea of it made his code twist in knots. 

Pix sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, and then smiled, stiffer than any of his previous ones, “I was just thinking you and me we’d go and do some _interfacing_ somewhere-” 

The nervousness he’d been experiencing turned to agitation in an instant, “I believe, I am done here. Thank you for the conversation, Pix.” He stated, not bothering to put any extra inflection in his voice. If romance had made him uncomfortable the single thought of a _deep_ interface was even worse. 

He stood up abruptly and made his way out, the medic calling out half-heartedly after him. 

Getting outside seemed to clear his head, and he resolved to start making his way to a port so he could get out of this system. 

While the conversation had turned sour, it had given him something to chew over on the way there. 

While his earliest memories were damaged, he knew he had gotten hurt at some point, considering he’d used his _acquired_ medic protocols at some point. Apparently ENCOM programs were stirring trouble up outside their own system, enough that programs needed to go to medics. His User had been ‘fired’ from his position that granted him access to ENCOM in the Invisible Realm, and forced to leave, his own data being stolen from him. 

He had some of the pieces to a puzzle- the rest of them, presumably lay in the ENCOM system.

* * *

He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but it wasn’t this. 

Currently he was curled tight in on himself, and willing his circuits not to flash out with his strong emotions. He’d ran here, luck having his way that there was a little space in the side of the building, a little hidey hole just for him, (more likely a formatting error, but still,). 

What in User’s name had happened to this system? There were guards now, with angry red circuits (He’d seen programs with red circuits before who had been friendly, but for some reason, all of the imposing figures here wore red.) He’d barely gotten a chance to get into the system before they were trying to take him away to something they called _The Game Grid_. On reflex he’d sort of just kicked the guard in the leg and started sprinting. 

_“You in the system there, Clu?”_ His User’s voice brought a wave of calm over him he didn’t know he needed. 

“Yes, sir.” He whispered under his breath. 

_“Alright, ok, go ahead and update to match with the system specs- It’ll make sure you’re less noticeable- And do a general system scan, see what’s changed since the last time we were here.”_

Clu nodded, before awkwardly grabbing at his back for his disk. It took far longer than it should’ve due to his position. He grinned slightly when he finally got it, and then placed it on the ground, activating it. He swiped through the text on the disk quickly, before finding the option he needed. Then hesitated; updating to match the specs- it required going into sleep mode and well- 

He couldn’t see well from his hiding spot, but was it so hard to believe some of those guards were still searching for him? Clu shook his head, he just had to get this over with. 

He activated the update, and his disk glowed brightly, the ground lighting up as well as it connected to the system. His eyes grew heavy as his processors prepared for it, and finally after notifying Flynn that he’d begun, he fell into sleep. 

  
  


Clu groaned as he came to, the vestiges of sleep leaving him. He hurt. His head due to the new information it now possessed, and his body due to his awkward position. 

The information about the system was...odd. There was a program in charge of the system called The Master Control Program, MCP for short. And it had it’s claws on the system. The aching in his head was no doubt due to the way that the MCP program had mangled the system’s introduction code. Clu had had to weave around certain...questionable aspects of it while updating. 

_“Master Control Program, huh? Wonder what that’s about?”_ Flynn’s voice echoed throughout his head, and Clu winced. A hand instantly went to his head, and then he realized with a start that his new render had come with a helmet of all things. His earpieces seamlessly connected with it now. 

“Seems like a sysadmin out of control, sir.” He replied quietly, shifting in the space so that he could examine his new render. It felt right. But he did have to admit that he missed the cloak. 

_“You can say that again.”_ Flynn sighed, _“Ok, we’ve got a lot of work to do- Let’s get on it, alright, Clu?”_

“Yes sir!” 

But first, he would probably have to get out of this hidey-hole. Somehow.

* * *

“Hahahaha!” Laughter like this was not something Clu indulged in often, most of his ‘laughs’ were small noises. It turns out being loud was not exactly helpful when ‘finding information’. This laughter was different mostly just because he’d just stolen a lightcycle. 

Flynn had theorized that his stolen data was probably in the higher clearance memory, and walking there was probably not the best plan. It had been Clu’s idea to steal a ‘cycle. It had been surprisingly easy. Of course there were now two lightcycles chasing him, but that was another matter. 

He swerved back and forth, a plan already forming in his mind. He pulled up the code-interface with ease with his left-hand, the vehicle tipping a little as he adjusted to driving with one hand. Lightcycles were capable of using jetwalls, but they were restricted to _The Game Grid_ , mostly due to the fact that when using them the vehicle would become grid-locked, with only right angles being possible. If he could just adjust the code for a nano- 

The vehicle became steadier when the jetwall activated; a slew of red warning icons also popping up in front of his face. He waved them away. He clutched the controls tightly, and then turned right. He cursed under his breath at the sharp turn, but then let out another laugh as the first light cycle derezzed. The next order of business was the second one. 

It seemed the other had caught onto his plan, because it was screeching to a halt. Clu smiled, but then found his breath catching as he turned his attention back to driving. Perhaps the other ‘cycle had stopped, not because of the jetwall, but because of the large canyon coming up quickly. He had no time to turn around now; his momentum would just leave him falling to his death. 

In a split second decision he turned the jetwall back off and then proceeded to _speed up_. 

Clu was caught with the need to close his eyes, and yet, he focused his gaze straightforward. 

When his lightcycle finally went over the edge he found himself holding his breath. Who knew that the feeling of not having any ground beneath you was so utterly terrifying, (and yet exciting?). Below him, the canyon went so far down that he couldn’t see the bottom. 

And then it was all over in a single moment as his lightcycle landed- he derezzed it as it did- he couldn’t afford to damage it at this point. He hit the ground hard, the force of the impact sending him rolling over a large patch of land. 

He stared up at the sky, breathing hard, “Huh. Users, that was _fun_.” 

He also thanked whoever it was that had made helmets the standard in the ENCOM system, it would’ve been awful to make it all this way only to derezz by smashing head first into the ground or something. 

Clu didn’t feel exactly like getting up, but somehow he did. He took a long look at the otherside of the canyon, eyes scanning. 

Sure enough, the other rider had derezzed their lightcycle, and was now staring at him from across the canyon. He couldn’t see their face, but their red circuits were looking a bit dim. Clu waved cheerfully back at them.

* * *

Fresh energy springs seemed to be becoming harder and harder to find as he went further into the system, no doubt due to the MCP draining power. There were places where some should be, marked on his maps where there only lay empty dry caverns. And he got the feeling that it was only going to get worse from here on out. 

“It’d be nice to have some sort of container to take some with me.” He murmured to himself as he finished off another drink from the spring. In books they had things like _canteens,_ or _waterskins_ , or simply just. Bottles. 

He clapped his hands together, currently gloveless, debating whether or not he should rest for a bit or just keep going. Pacing himself properly was going to be key in his success. It could make or break him. 

“Perhaps...sleep…” He eyed the ground wearily, he was already halfway there by sitting on his knees, but then flinched as he heard a sound echo throughout the cave. It had sounded like a footstep; barely audible over the energy pool’s noise as it flowed. 

He stiffened, standing up quickly, grabbing his identity disk. He fumbled for a moment, before readying it to throw. Of all the things he’d done, fighting with his disk was one of the few he hadn't done . The disk lit up as he channeled energy to it; if worse came to worse he could always just wack someone over the head with it. 

“Who’s there? Show yourself, program!” He shouted, trying hard to sound as threatening as any of the MCP’s Reds. 

Silence met him as a response. He bounced on the balls of his feet. “I know you’re there- I heard you!” He’d stand here for the next milicycle if he had to. 

He stood there for another moment, his arm protesting it’s position. Then just when he thought that maybe he really had just overreacted, a figure emerged from behind a rocky wall. He inadvertently took a step back as he saw them. 

“Nice knee pads.” The other program called, her voice light. 

“Thanks.” He responded flatly, still in slight shock. 

Her circuits were _Yellow._ Like his. Written in another system...and most likely not integrated through official channels. 

// _Program Designation Scan: ??? Probability: Unknown_

He frowned; she wasn’t even attempting to mask her designation. Clu lowered his disk, but didn’t dock it. She took a step towards him, and it occurred to him that she was as tall as him, and by the look of her shoes, they weren’t heels. 

“Why are you following me?” He accused, taking a leap of logic. 

She smiled, “I’m Hide, by the way.” 

Clu raised an eyebrow, still waiting for an answer. Hide huffed, crossing her arms. 

“There’s a few reasons, but dude, you’re a _hacker_ like me.” Her grin widened as she said the word. 

Clu rolled his eyes, “Hacker is such a _dirty_ word, Ms. Hide.” He eyed her up and down, and finally docked his disk. 

“What? Are you too good for such a word?” Hide walked closer to him, finally getting within reasonable conversation distance. 

“Back to Following me. Why?” Clu repeated. 

Hide scrunched her mouth and rocked on the balls of her feet for a moment, “As previously stated you’re a hacker. I haven’t seen anyone like me since...well...anyway. After that I kept following you because I noticed that you seem to know this system really well. And you don’t like the Reds, that’s for sure. And then there’s the fact that you’re heading towards the center of the system.” 

“True.” Clu conceded, placing hands on hips, “But most programs wouldn’t want to go to the center of the system nowadays. Seems like a bit of a death wish to follow a program who’s heading towards the MCP.” 

“Unless that program is trying to stop the MCP.” Hide said leaning towards him. It was more apparent now; she was slightly taller than him. 

Clu let out a short sigh, very short for him, “Not exactly...but you’re close. I’ll give you that.” 

Hide let out a short laugh, “Do you always talk like that?” 

“Talk like what?” 

“Like I don’t know- So monotone and everything.” Hide said with jazz hands for emphasis. 

“Not _all_ the time.” Clu replied, purposely emphasising his dry tone, “Anyway, why would you follow me for that reason?” 

Hide gaped at him, as if he’d just said the most stupid thing in the entire system. “Are you kidding? To help, of course!” 

Clu turned away from her, walking a short pace away. This program, Hide, had been following him, not to hurt him, but to help him? Help...might not be such a bad thing. It would also be nice not to be alone all the time. Then again he couldn’t exactly take a chance. He turned back to her, “Let me see your disk.” 

“What? Why?” 

“I can’t take the chance that you’re in line with the Reds.” Clu growled, holding out a hand for her disk. 

“Ok.” Hide said slowly, before carefully removing it from her back. Clu took it from her hands just as slowly, then quickly activated it. Her code was rather good, and there were no traces of anything MCP related. 

“Here.” He handed her disk back, feeling rather rude. Then in an impulsive thought he grabbed his disk again, and also handed it to her. 

“Are you serious?” She asked, eyes wide. 

“Fair’s fair.” He said with a slight shrug. 

Hide shook her head, still surprised, before accessing Clu’s disk. Her face seemed to grow only more shocked as she flicked through his code. 

“Dude, your code it’s...I can’t even- your User must be crazy-good.” She said after a moment, finally handing back his disk, “I can see the appeal of being haughty around the word ‘hacker’, now.” Then she turned more serious, “So, now that I’m cleared, are you gonna let me help you?” 

“Where I’m going, the closer we get to the heart of the system, the more dangerous it is.” He wrung his hands together, “I’m trying to just get a piece of data to my User, then he could take care of it in the Invisible Realm.” 

“So it might not be an instant solution. And we could be killed doing it.” Hide said, glancing towards the floor. Clu nodded, that summed it up. 

“Alright,” Hide clapped her hands together, her gloves derezzing, “I’m in still! If you’ll have me?” Clu only raised an eyebrow, something he was probably going to be doing a lot around this conscript, “May I?” She asked, gesturing to the energy source. 

“By all means.” He said with slight disbelief. Hide laughed, getting down to her knees to drink from the energy source. Her circuits flared an even brighter yellow. Clu felt slightly self-conscious; he’d barely seen anyone in the ENCOM system so far with yellow circuits. Though, these days it seemed hard to find any other colors besides red. 

“So,” Hide said, splashing her hands in the water, “That stunt you pulled with the lightcycle- that was pretty glitchin’ awesome.” 

“Oh, you saw that?” Clu tried to contain the slight smile that wanted to happen due to the praise. 

“Users, yeah I did- I had to steal a light cycle too when you decided to. When you made that jump, I almost lost you. But- I’m clever. ” Hide flicked a spray of energy over to him. He gazed blankly at the droplets, and it occurred to him he had yet to introduce himself.

“I’m Clu, by the way.” He said echoing her introduction. Hide smiled back.

* * *

“You know, meeting you finally solved the longstanding debate I had been having with myself about maybe meeting up with Tron to try and rebel against the MCP.” 

Clu turned away from Hide’s lightcycle, pausing in his maintenance work. They were once again holed up in some outlands crevice. Hide’s light cycle was in rough shape, and he was doing his best to fix it up. They’d been traveling together for some time now, and their dynamic had become familiar. 

“ _Tron_?” He repeated, the name tasting familiar on his lips. 

“Dude.” Hide’s voice was filled with disbelief and amusement, her hand bouncing against her leg, “You don’t know who Tron is?” 

“The name is definitely familiar, would you enlighten me onto who this Tron is?” 

Hide shook her head, “Tron is like a legend. He’s a security monitor, the rumors are saying that one day he’s going to be the one that’s gonna take down the MCP. At least...once he’s out of beta.” 

Clu hummed in amusement, and derezzed the light cycle, balancing the baton in his hand. It felt a lot better now, hopefully his patches would keep it together until they got Hide a different one. 

“Of course...a hacker offering a security monitor help…” Hide looked chagrin, tapping her helmet with an idle fist. 

“Not the best idea?” Clu tossed the baton back to her, “How’s it feel to you?” 

“No, no, not really the best idea,” She twisted the baton over in her hands, “Feels more balanced. Thanks, Clu.” 

“No problem, Hide.” He smiled back. He glanced to the floor, a thought rolling through his head.

"If this Tron does take down the MCP before we do, I'll gladly shake him by the hand."

Hide laughed, circuits flaring, "Handshakes, that’s a User thing right?”

Clu nodded absently. 

“A hacker shaking the hand of a security monitor. What is the system coming to?"

* * *

  
 _“Clu, gonna need you to make a slight detour- I’ve marked it on your map. I think there’s a data trail left there, which should help us assemble a more accurate estimate to where the actual data is.”_

“Yes sir.” Clu whispered under his breath as he leaned hard into a turn with his lightcycle. 

“What was that?” Hide’s voice came over the coms, her cycle riding next to his. He glanced over to her, the dark visor of the cycle hiding both of their faces. He grimaced as he visualized his new map marker. 

It wasn’t like he was trying to hide the fact he had direct contact with his User. Yet at the same time, he was completely trying to. 

“There’s a town nearby with a data trail,” Clu responded, adjusting his course to steer them in the right direction. Hide adjusted her course in line with him, the only acknowledgement he got from her. Unease settled right in his shoulders at the silence. 

It didn’t take them long to get to the town. It was small, which wasn’t necessarily unusual. It’s circuits however...were dark. Completely dark. The darkness stopped in a perfect circle around it. 

They stopped, derezzing their cycles, coming to the edge of the town. They exchanged glances between them before slowly walking to the very edge of the circle. There was a clear line between the healthier blues and purples of the ground and the dark blue, almost black of the inside of the settlement.

“ _Dude.”_ Hide said softly, eyes wide. 

Clu let out a sigh, “Indeed.” 

“Is...is it even safe to go in there?” She ran her foot over the line. 

“If the energy was still being drained we would be able to see it,” Clu said, with a tone far more confident than he actually was, “Besides, the MCP has already been draining power, generally all over the system. This must’ve been targeted.” 

Hide gulped, and tapped the side of her helmet anxiously, “Alright, alright. Are you sure the data trail is worth…?” She gestured to the darkness. 

“I-” Clu found his eyes flickering back and forth between her and the darkness, his circuits flaring for a moment, “My User wants me to go there.” 

“Clu…” She scrunched up her face, laughing a little, “We haven’t been to an I/O tower the entire time I’ve known you. And it’s been more than a ‘few’ microcycles by now.” 

He stayed silent, jaw set. Hide crossed her arms, and blinked rapidly. 

“Oh Users. You’re serious, aren’t you?” 

Clu slowly nodded, watchful of her reaction, cautious. 

“So, wait, dude. That whole, talking to yourself when you think I can’t hear you is that you-?” She gestured vaguely in the air. 

Clu’s eyebrows twitched in irritation at the revelation that he hadn’t been quite as sneaky as he thought, but then brushed it off, “Yes. Talking to my User, Flynn.” 

Hide ran a hand against the back of her neck, and then shuffled on her feet, thinking. “Are those earpieces on your helmet-”

“What lets me hear him? No, not exactly. If I don’t have them in it’s like my head’s in an energy pool-” He winced, an old phantom memory of a scream ripping from his throat as earpieces slid against the ground. 

“That doesn't sound fun.” Hide grimaced, then shook her head, putting a hand on his shoulder, “Let’s...table this discussion for a little while, shall we?” She turned to the town. 

The lack of light was unnerving. They glanced at each other, and then both took a step at the same time into the darkness. They stood there for a moment, pausing to see if anything would affect them adversely. When after a moment it didn’t, they silently exchanged nods, and began to traverse further in. 

It was true that these microcycles the ENCOM system’s lightlines were duller, colder. This place, however, was just completely. Empty. Only the two program’s own circuit lines lit up the place, their footsteps echoing ominously in the air. 

“Do you think this is what it’s like for the first programs in a new system?” Hide asked, walking a few paces away from Clu, turning in a half circle to get a good look of the place. Clu shrugged, looking down at the way the light of their circuits bounced off of their surroundings. “Though. I will admit, I always thought that it would be more, er, warm. I suppose, in those stories.” 

“This isn’t creating something new. This is something that’s been taken.” Clu replied, his eyes catching on a small building. There was something about it that just seemed to pull at his code. “There.” He said, pointing at it. “Come on.” 

They made their way to the building, it was _very_ small. As they got closer, and their light lines illuminated the area it was also easy to see a fence that started at one end of the building and just kept going into the darkness. Hide grasped it, leaning over it. 

“It looks like. A canyon or something.” She waved her hand, teetering dangerously over the fence. 

Clu pulled her back up, “Or something.” He went to the building. 

Luckily the door had been left open, any thoughts of struggling to open it dissipating. It really was a small building. There was what looked like a control panel that ran along a window overlooking the dark void that the fence had separated the land from. And on the other far wall there were cabinets. Clu ran his hand over the console, a fluttering feeling in his chest. Hide went to one of the cabinets and opened it and gasped. 

“Lightcycle batons. Jai Alai cestas- Is this, disc training practice armor-? Is this-?” Hide had a baton in one hand as she looked back to Clu. 

“The original _Game Grid_ , before the MCP. Yes, I would say so.” He leaned heavily on the console in front of him, and let out a long sigh, before gesturing in front of him to the window, “That’s where they’d have it all, in this arena.” 

“So the old rumors of it just being something fun for programs to do is true.” Hide walked over to him, looking out into the darkness, circuits faltering. “Your User...he wrote them, didn’t he?”

Clu nodded, grinding his teeth. It was hard to imagine it all, but now there was proof. And the way the MCP had left it? It was almost horrific. 

“Well I thought the _Game Grid_ was bigger than this small town.” Hide said softly, turning the baton over in her hands. 

“Why would it need to be? There would be no need to have games constantly running all the time like the MCP has it. Why not have just one arena to do it anyway?” He shook his head, “Now this whole place is just a ghost town.” 

“Ghost town?” 

Clu smiled bitterly, “User term- It’s nothing, do not worry about it.”

* * *

“Well, at least I got a new lightcycle.” Hide said lamely, kicking the ground.

They’d long since left the remnants of the original _Game Grid_ behind, but it’s impression had left the both of them uneasy. 

“You look _very_ enthusiastic.” 

Hide glared at him, “Says the conscript whose voice perpetually sounds sooo _oooo_ enthusiastic...Look, I know we’re supposed to be taking a break but uh. I’m antsy, dude.” 

Clu crossed his arms, looking at their surroundings. The sky was clear, not a Reco in sight. But then again, it was the outlands; there wasn’t much to say. At least it was brighter than _that_ place. 

“Well, what do you suggest?” 

Hide grinned, a devious spark in her eyes. She shifted, her posture becoming more sure as she undocked her disk. 

“Disk practice?” She asked, hopeful. 

Clu’s eyes fell half-lidded, “You’re free to, I suppose.” 

Hide squinted at him, “You’ve never really used your disk as a weapon have you?” 

He averted her gaze, suddenly feeling ashamed for no real reason, “What makes you say that?” 

Hide huffed, “You got all shifty! Besides, when I met you, your stance was awful! So stiff.” 

Clu rolled his eyes, but then relented, “You’re right. But I don’t really see the appeal of throwing my literal storage of all my knowledge with the added threats of becoming a stray, or. Death.” 

Hide shifted from foot to foot.

Clu sighed, “Do you see my point?” 

“Yeah, but dude, how else are you gonna defend yourself from the Reds?” 

He hesitated, “Preferably by running.” 

Hide’s face became serious, “You can’t always run.” 

“No…” He eyed her, carefully, “I suppose not.” 

“Let me teach you? Please.”

“...Alright.”

* * *

“No. Your arm’s too stiff, and draw it back a little more-” Hide pulled his arm back, “And you’re standing way too straight- This is about throwing, you gotta use momentum.” 

“And powering up our disks-”

“Gives us more control, _but_ , you still gotta throw it. Codified.” 

He blinked in surprise at the first word of his ‘full name’. She only smirked in reply. 

“Now, c’mon, let’s try this.” 

He looked in front of them; they’d disassembled Hide’s first lightcycle (which was honestly worse than he had thought in hindsight of taking it apart) and had parts lined up as targets. 

“One fluid motion.” Hide advised. 

He took a deep breath and then he drew his arm back. And threw. 

The disk...did not hit any of the ‘cycle parts. It instead swerved far out away from them, and actually landed back closer to the two programs. Clu blinked slowly. 

“Wow. _Snakes and Ladders_ , that was _bad_.” Hide rubbed the back of her neck.

Clu scrunched up his nose, “Snakes and-what?” 

“It’s an exclamation-people say it-” Hide replied absently, “That disk throw was awful.” 

“I’m fairly sure no one says-” He interrupted himself, and then let himself pin that conversation for later, “Anyway, I had a feeling it would be bad.” 

Disbelief was clear on her face, “Here. Watch.” She drew her disk and threw it in ‘one fluid motion’. It elegantly went through the air, before taking out all the targets in one swoop and coming back. 

“I’m no security monitor-” Hide caught it, satisfied with her throw, “But I’ll say I’m fairly good.” 

“Yes you are.” He replied, making sure there was a note of audible awe in his voice. He retraced the path the disk had taken with his eyes. It really had hit _all_ of the targets.

Hide side-eyed him, “I’m...not gonna be able to teach you, am I?”

Clu let out a huff of a laugh, “Likely not.” He looked back at his disk, and picked it up, and then drew it back into a throwing position. Hide frowned, taking a clear look of his arm. 

“Ah!” She snapped her fingers, and grabbed his shoulder, “Dude, you look more like you want to wack someone over the head with it. 

Clu let out a small smile, “Perhaps.” 

The other hacker took a few steps away from him, tapping her helmet thoughtfully, the other hand on her hip, “Maybe. Maybe we could steal one of the Red Guard’s stabby sticks.” 

He furrowed his eyebrows, “Their lances?” 

“Whatever.” 

“I don’t think that’s a viable option.” Stealing one wasn't worth being derezzed for. His eyes glanced over to the discarded ‘cycle parts, and his circuits flared, “However. The suggestion has given me an idea.” 

* * *

He flipped the baton over in his hands. It felt as balanced as he could get it. 

“How’s your stabby stick going?” Hide asked, making a motion with her hands that was presumably 'stabby'.

“It’s not going to be stabby- It’s a staff.” He activated it, the baton extending to about half of his height. He spun it around in his hands appreciatively. 

“Oooh, woah. That’s neat. And you made that out of my old lightcycle baton?” 

He shrugged, “It was a rather simple thing, practically anyone could do it.” 

Hide shook her head, “Yeah but you did it, Clu. Not anyone else.”

* * *

Clu tapped the table nervously. The last time he had been in a club, afterall hadn’t gone as well as he had hoped. This one was a little more crowded over all, at the very least, so there was a higher chance that no one would even notice him, with the added fact they were in a far corner booth. His shoulders were tense. The pulsing lights of the club etched patterns onto their lightsuits. 

“Relax, dude. We haven’t seen any Reds here yet.” She nudged him with an elbow. 

He shook his head, “I’m not nervous about the Reds.” In fact, it was an entirely different type of nervousness. And right now he was almost wishing he was worried about some MCP goons. 

Hide took a long swig from her glass, then asked, “Ok, what then?” 

“Last time I was at a club, I was approached by a program who, ah, _flirted_ with me.” The fact that he didn’t even realize that it was flirtation at first could be ignored for the moment. 

Hide raised her eyebrows, “Ok...and?” 

“I didn’t. Like it. Or appreciate it.” He sighed, “Honestly the thought of _me_ being in a relationship? It unnerves me.” 

He stared at the programs on the dance floor. Plenty of them had dancing partners that were presumably... “It’s just...maybe there’s something wrong with me?” 

“Dude, there’s nothing wrong with nothing wrong with not wanting anything to do with romance.” She said, sternly, her mouth a thin line. 

He thumbed the side of his glass for a moment, “It’s just. Even Users tend to desire romance.” 

“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure not all Users do. Besides there’s no use making yourself uncomfortable for anyone else.” 

He raised an eyebrow, then relaxed his shoulders. She was right. He had to let it go. Even if it was difficult. 

“Have you ever had a counterpart, Hide?” 

Her circuits flashed pink for a nanosecond, “Me? Users, no. I’ve had a few flings back in my old system, but, yeah, no partners.” 

“Oh.” He said, unsure of what else to say. She leaned back into the booth seat with a small shrug of her shoulders. 

“C’mon, don’t worry yourself over this kinda stuff, Clu. Just relax and enjoy your energy.” 

* * *

The wound was bad. Considering the fact that from below the knee, Hide’s leg was just gone. The pixels, at the very least, didn’t seem to be breaking any further as they tumbled down the mountain side. Clu awkwardly supporting the now one-legged hacker. He got them over to behind a large rock, and set her down. He then peeked around it, carefully watching the top of the mountain side. Then he turned back to Hide. 

Her face was pale, “Did-Did that tank just shoot at us?” She asked, breathless, “We weren’t even riding our cycles-”

“I think they thought we were derezzed,” He reassured, “No one’s followed us.” 

Hide hissed, clutching at the now stump of her leg. He couched beside her. 

“Snakes and ladders, this smarts.” 

He shook his head in a hint of amusement, “Fairly sure that no one says that besides you.” 

“Users say it-” 

“I’m familiar with many sayings, User and program, and I’ve never-” 

She hit him in the shoulder, “Shut up.” 

He then seriously went to looking over the wound. It was a clean break, which was good, it meant that it would be easier to repair. The circuits of the leg had also stopped pulsing red as well. 

“Erase me, how are we gonna get to a medic?” She groaned, “If we can even find a medic in this Users-deleted system.” 

He didn’t reply in speech, only undocking her disk from her back. Bringing up the code was easy- and his first presumptions were correct. The clean break meant that all he would have to do was restore the lower half of the leg, no clean up with any small cracks or anything. At least, that’s what it seemed like. Hide stared at him, eyes widening at him as he flipped through her disk’s content. 

“Do you-ugh- have medic protocols?” 

He paused, eyes flickering to meet hers, “Yes.” 

She laughed, though it was pained, “Dude, you can hack, do mechanics, medic stuff, and you’re practically a living I/O tower? Is there anything you can’t do?” 

“Throw a disk, I suppose,” He shrugged, “But you know what they say, _A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one._ ” 

“Hmmm, you gotta be a pretty damn good hacker to pick up those other skills, eh?” The User curse threw him off for a solid second, and he made eye contact with her. Then Clu slowly nodded, taking the compliment for what it was. 

“Hey, Codified,” She let out a low laugh, at what, he didn’t know, “Can your whole Living-I/O-Tower thing, like. Contact other Users?” 

He sighed. Alright, they were having this conversation. Now of all times. 

“Technically. Yes.” 

“But?” 

“But to do that I would lose contact with Flynn. And the likelihood of reconnecting with him in the state the system is in is low.” 

Hide’s hands went to the top of her head, drumming on the helmet. Her eyes were watering, likely due to the pain. Or at least, Clu hoped so. He didn’t quite like the idea of making her cry. 

“I’m sorry.” He said, focusing his gaze back onto her code. 

“No-No, don’t be.” She smacked her helmet forcefully, before pulling it off and setting it on the ground. Her black hair tousled around the base of her neck. 

“Huh.” He acknowledged from the corner of his eyes. 

“Hm?”

“It’s just. I didn’t expect someone to have as unruly hair as I do.” 

Hide raised an eyebrow, a clear challenge. He derezzed his helmet without touching it, his scrappy hair falling down. 

“Dude, what kinda hair-?” 

“I don’t know.” 

Then they fell into a companionable silence. It was tense, and sometimes interrupted by Hide’s noises of pain. Clu was working as quickly as he could. But again, even if he had medic protocols, he was still not actually a medic. He’d rather be fixing up a lightcycle, where he knew exactly what he was doing all the time. 

“I miss talking to my User.” Hide said absently, staring up into the sky, “But if losing contact with her meant meeting you, I'm glad I did.” 

“Alright, now you’re just getting delirious.” Yet, his circuits flashed brightly. 

“Probably.” 

Clu continued his work for a little while. Then he finally turned to her, gesturing for her to lean so he could dock the disk. When it docked, Hide shivered, and her leg slowly started reforming, pixel by pixel. They were both captivated, watching the process intently. When it finally finished they both made eye contact.

“Is it-?” Clu glanced at it. 

Hide moved her newly regained foot, and then slowly kicked the rest of her leg in the air several times, “It’s uh, stiff.” 

“I’m sorry, I’ll probably have to keep patching it-”

“Clu, you literally just brought my leg back, I don’t think you should apologize for anything.” 

He leaned back against the rock, shoulders touching her’s. Hide laid her head on his shoulder. 

“ ‘Master of none...better than one.’ Yeah, yeah I think so.” Hide mused, “I could be stuck without a leg right now if it weren’t for that.” 

He only grasped her hand and sent her a wave of energy; _safe, friend, love, safe, friend._ She smiled and returned the energy transfer. Then her eyes grew heavy and she slowly went into sleep mode. Clu found himself staring at her leg.

* * *

Clu sat and watched as Hide paced back and forth. There was definitely a slight limp still there, but there was only so much he could do. He’d applied at least four patches so far. And while it was only slight, it still bothered him. He brought his right leg up from the ground, looping his hands around his ankle. Then he stared up at the ceiling and queued up his latest reading endeavor. 

“That’s not the first time I’ve seen that far off stare. What are you doing?” 

He glanced back at her, “Reading.” 

She walked over to him and sat beside him, “What are you reading?” 

“A collection of poems and short stories.” 

“Could you read to me?” 

“My voice won’t bother you?” Surely the dryness of it would get grating eventually. 

“No, of course not.” 

He eyed her doubtfully then sighed, “Alright.”

* * *

Their lightcycles started to slow to a stop until they finally derezzed them. The two hackers walked to the edge of the cliff. 

“Sometimes it feels like we haven’t made any progress.” Clu said as he observed the system. Dull circuit lines stared right back at him. 

“ENCOM is a big system.” Hide said. And it was true, Clu had been to so many systems, and none even came to ENCOM’s vastness. 

“I suppose I’m just used to doing things quickly.” And he wasn’t the only one. Flynn had been slowly, but surely been becoming more frustrated. Not with him of course, the anger was never directed towards him. In fact a good portion of his User’s anger was directed right back at himself. It made Clu...sad. 

“I’ve gotten quite used to waiting.” Hide’s tone was wistful, “I have something I want to tell you.” 

Clu turned to her, “You can tell me anything.” There was possibly nothing else he could say that would be more true than that statement. 

“Well, when I got to ENCOM it wasn’t on purpose. I was snatched up by Reds. Uh...well...not just me.” She paused, eyebrows crinkled, “I have a sister program, actually, Seek.” 

Clever, Clu reflected to himself.

“I was always the planner, she was the one to actually retrieve information. When it happened, we weren’t even in our home system, dude. We were getting something for our User in a different one, hacker stuff and all. And then we were swept away.” Her circuits flickered uncertainty, “I then had to make a choice. I was able to get us out, but we needed a distraction for the guards to use the port. Only one of us could do it. And Seek had the information.” 

“You sacrificed your chance of going home.” 

“Anything for my sister.” 

He glanced back to the grand view before them, “That’s why you’re fighting the MCP. For her?” 

“That’s. One of the reasons.” 

“Could you tell me about her?”

“Oh,” She laughed a little, “Seek was always quieter than I was. And she had the most beautiful smile. And she was super good at running…” she trailed off.

They were both quiet then, consumed by their own thoughts. 

“Well, if we’re baring our souls to each other I suppose I could tell you something. My earliest memories are quite _corrupted_. I was made and sent to the ENCOM system, I think when the MCP was first starting to come to power- I believe I was attacked at some point, I remember screaming, and Flynn’s voice being unclear when my ear pieces were knocked out.” 

“And then?” 

“He snatched me up from the system and sent me back ‘home’,” He then added, “Not that I’ve spent long there, barely a few microcycles. Then Flynn was sending me off to any and every system to do various tasks.” 

Hide raised an eyebrow, “Training you, perhaps?” 

“Maybe. But. Despite that, and everything. The MCP- This system. Is the closest thing I have to a home.” 

‘You’re my home.’ He didn’t say. 

* * *

The two stared at each other. It was odd, not having a discussion with any words, yet they managed it all the same. As to what they were debating- well, it was the matter of the town that lay below them. That and the cell of programs that the Reds had taken. It was only a simple shield keeping them in, until some transport, probably a Recognizer, was able to take them to _The Game Grid_ . They were all together capable of getting those conscripts free. There were barely any Reds. Of course, they both wanted to. They _always_ wanted to. But usually it was too big of a risk. This time, however- 

Clu finally nodded, rezzing in his lightcycle baton with a definite flip. Hide smirked. They both lept, their cycles rezzing around them and landing on the declining land. Clu drove fast, aiming on the left side of the town. Hide, the right. He turned around several corners before he was near the red shield, Hide on the other side. They both derezzed their cycles, Hide grabbing her disk and Clu activating his staff. They both ran to the generator, Hide already sent her disk flying towards. Clu vaulted over to it, before giving the thing a solid _twhap_. 

After a few more hits from the both of them, the generator sparked and the shield flickered out of existence. Just as some REds came. 

“Scatter!!” Clu yelled, swinging his staff into the chest of the nearest guard. Hide’s disk flew past him, barely a hair’s breadth away, taking out another. 

The two hackers stuck close together as the rest of the conscripts ran for their lives. A few stayed behind, also joining them in their fight. These Reds seemed to be extremely inexperienced at the very least. One of them even tripped on their feet and landed straight on the ground. 

“Dude,” Hide said in between ragged breaths, catching her disk mid-run, “I think it’s time to run while we still can.” 

Clu surveyed the area around them, and then nodded. The two took off, sprinting towards an alleyway. They ducked behind a building, pausing for a moment. 

“Snakes and Ladders, We really just did that. We _really_ did that.” Hide muttered to herself. 

Clu nodded, smiling. To himself, he referenced his maps. Then he pointed towards the right; that would take them out of there. Hide clapped him on the shoulder and began to sprint, ready to rezz in her lightcycle- 

…

...

And then she fell awkwardly to the ground as a disk sliced cleanly through her torso. Her face looked up briefly towards him. And then she lit up, her energy returning to the system. And she was gone. 

Clu screamed. 

He dashed out of the alleyway, turning back towards the source of the disk. A Red soldier stood there, a smirk slowly falling from his face. The Red took a small step backwards. 

“ _You’re going to regret that._ ” Clu growled, and-

* * *

He stared at his hands. Things had changed so quickly. This shouldn’t have happened. It should have been him. 

He’d derezzed the Red who’d killed her. Though. It might’ve been a little much to kill the Red with the Red’s own disk. The image of the conscript’s face as he pulled the disk from the Red’s own back stained his thoughts. 

It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. Not really. 

_“Clu, could you give me a status report?”_

Flynn’s voice, which was usually a welcome comfort, seemed to just add another insult to injury. 

“There were-” His voice sounded awful, “Unexpected delays, this microcycle.” 

_“Alright, but get on it, alright?”_

“Yes- Yes sir.” 

* * *

“Users-delete it.” Clu sighed, another energy pool completely drained. He ran a hand over the back of his neck. Running just on energy generated from sleep mode was entirely possible, of course. It was just a lot more draining. Tiresome. 

He rezzed in his lightcycle baton, there was no point in staying here any longer if there wasn’t any energy. He paused when he heard a far off noise. He glanced around. Well, if this wasn’t deja vu... 

Clu squared his jaw and started walking toward the source of the noise, rezzing in his staff. He took a slow careful look of the area. The area was clear of any programs as far as he could see. 

“Hm.” 

“ _Yes_.” A quiet voice spoke. He jumped, whipping around. There was still no one there. 

“Hello? Is someone there?” 

“... _Yes._ ” The voice sounded. Weak. He walked closer to where it sounded like it came from. 

“Are you hurt?” 

“ _Yes_.” 

He turned around a corner and paused. 

“A Bit?” Clu turned his head to the side. The Bit was laying on the ground. 

It pulsed yellow, “ _Yes!_ ”. 

He frowned and walked to it, crouching. Bits weren’t exactly known for just laying on the ground. They were supposed to fly around, right? He reached out his hand, tracing his hand over it. 

“Can you fly?” 

“ **_No_ **.” Clu blinked. The lack of energy...even Bits needed energy to function. And as far as Clu knew, Bits didn’t really have a sleep mode of any kind. 

His hand kept petting Bit as he ran through his thoughts. He couldn’t just leave it here to die. 

“I’m going to try something, alright? Hold on for a nano.” He focused then, sending a small wave of energy to it. 

Bit glowed then, and rose from the ground and flew around him. Clu hummed in amusement as it danced around his head. It then flew into his chest, nuzzling him. He smiled, petting it. 

“That’s much better, isn’t it?” 

“ _Yes!!_ ” 

Clu stayed there for a good while, petting the Bit intermittently between it flying around in circles. Eventually, he stood up and brushed dust off his legs. 

“I need to be going now.” 

“ **_No!_ **” Bit crashed into his shoulder angrily. 

“No?” Clu repeated dryly. “I’m not sure you would want to come with me.” 

“ **_No! No! No!_ **” 

“Where I’m going is dangerous, Bit.” He closed his eyes tightly, and shook his head, “You could die.” 

Bit was silent. Clu clicked his tongue, wishing he didn’t feel guilty. 

“Are you sure you want to come with me?” 

Clu was overwhelmed by the flurry of ‘yes’s that were going his way then, the Bit flying and nuzzling his face. And for the first time in microcycles he laughed aloud. 

* * *

The Reco loomed dangerously in the sky, and Clu rolled his eyes. Yet again, he had to duck into a cave to avoid being spotted. The closer he got to the MCP the more and more Recos seemed to show up. Bit hovered next to him, almost anxiously. 

“Hey now,” He cooed, “It’ll be alright, Bit.” 

His circuits brightened as his connection with Flynn sharpened. His User. Thank...well, his User. 

“Sir, we can’t exactly keep going like this. There’s too many Recos. And I have no way to fight back if they do attack me. Lightcycles don’t exactly have any weapons.” Aside from the jet-walls. However, those weren’t exactly useful when the enemy was in the sky.

Flynn sighed, _“I know. But don’t worry about it, man. I’ve got a plan.”_

Clu glanced at Bit, petting it absently. 

“Alright, sir?” 

_“I’ve marked the nearest port for you. Seems a little defunct at the moment, but, yeah. Head over there- I’ve got a helluva surprise for ya’.”_

Clu ducked his head in a nod, “Yes, sir.”

* * *

“Is that what I think it is?” He slowed his lightcycle to a stop. Bit bounced around in the small space. 

“ _Yes!_ ” It cheered. 

He shook his head in disbelief as he derezzed his cycle. It was a tank. A glitchin’ tank. Flynn got him. A Tank. 

He sprinted over to it, trying to shake off his disbelief still. It was still not activated, the green accents not lit up. From the looks of it it was brand new. A vehicle that wasn’t stolen for once. He climbed up, and entered it. 

“Wow.” He whispered to himself, pushing Bit away from his cheek when it nuzzled him with a ‘yes’. The inside was dark, not being activated. He went over to one of the terminals, his hands working on instinct, activating it. The tank lit up green, then flickered, once, twice, before settling on an orange-yellow. He nodded to himself, satisfied. Clu then went about checking out every inch of the place, familiarizing himself with it. 

“Oh, nice.” He said as he found a small cabinet and found within it a decently sized container filled with energy. There were a few cups in there as well, and he grabbed one, and immediately filled it. Clu took a long sip from it, circuits glowing more steadily and stronger with it. He offered the cup to Bit, who splashed in it lightly for a moment. 

“This is…” 

_“Pretty great, huh?”_ Flynn’s voice was extremely giddy, far more than Clu had heard in cycles. 

“Helluva good surprise.” Clu confirmed. 

_“C’mon, let’s get to work.”_

* * *

Clu sat back in his chair, watching his viewport in front of him. The thrill of getting a tank had eventually left him, and now he was back in the swing of things. 

“I’m so. Tired.” 

“ _Yes._ ” 

“Mmmm. You’re tired as well?” 

“ _Yes._ ” 

“Your life is so tiring. Saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ all the time? The Reds probably quiver at your eloquence.” 

“ **_No!_ **” 

“No? Hm. Well, maybe not. But I appreciate it.” 

* * *

“I had a friend once. She would’ve liked you, I think.” 

“ _Yes?_ ” 

“Yes. Indeed. I miss her very much. You ever lost anyone, Bit?” 

“ **_No?_ **’” 

“Then I wish you never have to experience it.” 

* * *

It seemed like an endless loop these days. Check the tank controls, drive on, have a conversation with Bit, maybe reread a book. Yet, he kept going, he was determined. He was going to find that data...Still, doubts were creeping in whether he wanted them to or not. All his thoughts were echoed by his User, as well. If Clu thought that Flynn had been impatient before, he had been wrong. Granted, there were good things- the amount of Recos he’d run into had been small. Clu had been lucky enough to even shoot down a few. 

He sat back in his chair heavily as he watched the viewport. His eyes drifted from it down to himself, and for the first time in a few long cycles he really _looked_ at himself. Boy, he was showing some wear and tear as well. He could use a good round in a fresher-his armor had built up grime in all the little nooks and crannies it could- his lightsuit was looking grungy. He ‘tsk’ed at himself. 

A thought struck him then out of the blue. He wondered if that Tron program had ever gotten out of beta. It’d be good news in the midst of all this, at least. 

And the thought of ‘beta’ to begin with. He’d never really _been_ in beta. Clu had been shuffled into this mess from the very moment he’d been coded. He would be until the end. He was just so tired.

* * *

_-There you are. Clu?-_

_-Clu?-_

_-There you-_

_-tonight we check everything in the right-hand column-_

_-you everything I know about the system.-_

_-I taught you-_

_-taught you-_

_-taught-_

_-I taught you everything I know about the system.-_

_-I understand, sir.-_

_-Yes, sir?-_

_-Yes-_

_-Sir-_

_-Wrote you-_

_-I wrote-_

_-But I’m not sure-_

_-No buts, Clu. That's for Users.-_

_-best program that's ever been written-_

_-best program-_

_-program-_

_-that’s ever been-_

_-Let me at ‘em-_

_-dogged and-_

_-dogged-_

_-and relentless-_

_-keep that tank rolling-_

_-rolling-_

_-keep-_

_-tank-_

_-keep that tank rolling-_

* * *

Clu’s breath was ragged as he stood on his tank. Crashed it. He’d crashed his tank, and now a Reco is slowly descending upon him. 

As he saw things, he had four options. 1: He could run, and get killed by the Reds. 2: He could fight, and get killed by the Reds. 3: He could get captured, and get killed by the Reds. 4: Or he could- No, best not to think about that last one. 

He looked around wildly. Option Three it was then. Clu stared up at the descending Reco. If he was going to get captured he couldn’t let the Reds get their hands on his disk…He had to get rid of it. He had to. The thought of becoming a stray was terrifying, of course, but the thought of the MCP getting to his User? 

He undocked it, and sighed as he took one last look at it before turning and throwing it off into the far distance behind him. It disappeared in the distance, and for once in his life Clu thanked his bad aim. 

The Reco landed; and Clu hopped down from the tank, hands raised in surrender as Reds marched out from it. 

“Oh my...the long arm o' the law.” He muttered to himself sarcastically. The Reds grabbed him roughly, pushing him towards the Recognizer. It loomed above them, almost mockingly. There had always been a small thought he’d never really shared with anyone; the wish to drive a Reco one day. It seemed he would never get the chance now. 

He sighed. At least Bit got away safely.

* * *

It turned out that being dragged onto the Recognizer and then put in a cell was pretty boring. Clu stared at the floor of his cell, wondering where exactly he was going to be taken to. His circuits were dim- his connection to Flynn had snapped like a string pulled too taut. His ears were still slightly ringing from it. 

Clu’s head shot up at the sound of footsteps, his eyes meeting someone he’d hoped he’d never have to see. He didn’t even need to use his designation protocol to know. _Sark_ , the MCP’s right-hand conscript, with two guards following him. Clu had heard enough stories to know. 

Sark stood in front of the shielded cell, scoffing at him. Clu raised a skeptical eyebrow. 

“Well, well, well. Seems we’ve finally caught the little hacker that’s been annoying us.” He gestured to one guard, who went and deactivated the cell’s force field, “And believe me, we’ve been _thoroughly_ annoyed.” 

Clu shrugged. Sark scowled, stepping into the cell, sizing the hacker up. 

“You’re quite pathetic, aren’t you?” He sneered at him. 

“I’m Clu, by the way.” Clu said, a hint of amusement in the back of his mind as the old phrase passed his lips. Sark only narrowed his eyes. 

He turned to one of the guards, “His Identity Disk. _Now_.” 

The guard came towards him and Clu leaned forward for him to see there wasn’t one. The guard hesitated, looking from the hacker to his boss. 

“He doesn't have one, sir.” 

“ _Idiots!_ ” Sark growled looking ready to hit anyone in the room, “He’ll have become a stray by the time you retrieve his disk.” He shot the guards a clear look of ‘I’ll deal with your punishment later’. 

A shadow of a smirk crossed over Clu’s face. Sark’s circuits flashed angrily. 

“No matter.” He said, bringing his face up to Clu’s so he was forced to look at him, “I’m sure Master Control will extract any info he needs from you without your disk.” 

Clu inhaled, then spat, “I’ll die before I tell that virus of a sysadmin anything.” 

Sark wiped off droplets of spit from his face, “And so you shall. It’ll be delightful to watch the vid feed of it, I’m sure.” 

Clu swallowed as Sark turned away from him, the force field reactivating as he left. 

“Take him to the MCP for... _interrogation._ And I was serious about the vid feed- I want to see this pirate _die_.” 

Clu leaned back against the wall with a sigh. 

* * *

_-Got a pirate program here.-_

_-pirate program-_

_-Got a-_

_-Says his name is-_

_-name is-_

_-Says his name is Clu.-_

_-I must've gotten in there by mistake! I was…-_

_-I was-_

_-What did he pull?-_

_-Did he pull?-_

_-Pull?-_

_-No! I must’ve-_

_-Gotten-_

_-Gotten in there-_

_-You're in trouble, program.-_

_-Trouble-_

_-Trouble-_

_-I was simply...!-_

_-Simply-_

_-By mistake!-_

_-Make it easy on yourself. Who's your User?-_

_-User?-_

_-Easy on yourself-_

_-Who’s your-_

_-You aren't making me talk.-_

_-Making me-_

_-No!-_

_-Aren’t making me talk.-_

_-Suit yourself.-_

_-Yourself-_

_-User-_

_-Clu-_

_-Forget it, mister high-and-mighty Master Control! You aren't making me talk.-_

_-Forget it-_

_-Forget it-_

_-High-and-Mighty-_

* * *

_…_

Clu opened his eyes. 

Which. He should not have been able to. Because he was just dead a nano ago. Right? He was fairly sure he was dead. He glanced around him suspiciously. He was on a rezz-in pad? Like a new program coming to a system-was this a different system? No- This was ENCOM. Why was he here? Why was he...alive? 

He took a step back, ready to grab his staff baton but- It wasn’t there in his code, so that wasn’t any option- Was this a trick by the MCP? 

His eyes scanned the area and he startled when he saw two blue-circuited programs coming up slowly to him. Further back there were another two that wore blue circuits at a standing terminal. One of the ones at the terminal seemed to catch his eye for some reason, but that program was looking away from him. 

“Hey there.” One of the programs closest to him said. 

// _Program Designation Scan: 99% Probability: Actuarial Program,_

Clu glanced to the other program besides the actuary. 

// _Program Designation Scan: 89% Probability: Simulation Program,_

This didn’t seem like a trick from the MCP. He was pretty sure the MCP wouldn’t have programs with blue circuits to trick him in any way. Let alone an actuary and a sim program. 

“My name’s Ram,” said Ram, “This is Yori, and I-uh, have also died, and re-rezzed before, so uh, I guess I’m the expert now.” He laughed awkwardly, a small smile on his face. Clu stared at him blankly. 

“I guess now we ask you how you’re feeling? Maybe Yori could just come and make sure you’re alright?” He glanced at the programs behind him, “ _Someone_ would do it, if they didn’t need a last-minute breather.” The tone was teasing. 

Clu just blinked slowly. This situation was odd. So apparently he had been derezzed. But now. He was. Rerezzed? 

He opened his mouth to say something when but not before a flying object came and hit him squarely in the chest. With a flurry of ‘yes’s. 

“Bit?” He gasped, hands hesitantly coming up to his chest to cup it in his hands, and said softly, “Hey there, buddy. Did you miss me?” 

Bit cheered happily, nuzzling his cheek. He turned to the other programs, being as serious as he could with the Bit. 

“I don’t mean to be rude- But the MCP-” 

“Is derezzed.” One of the programs by the terminal walked over to the pad purposefully. 

“I’m-” 

“Tron.” Clu finished, looking at the symbol on his chest. Tron nodded, a certain edge to his gaze. “You defeated the MCP, then.” 

“With help.” He replied with a smile and a glance to the other programs. 

“I,” Clu cleared his throat, and then stuck out his hand, “I owe you a handshake then.” 

Tron squinted in confusion and looked at the proffered hand before slowly taking it and shaking it. 

“I just…how did you…” Clu turned in a half circle to look around them, “How did you guys bring me back?”

All three programs looked between each other, some silent communication going on that Clu couldn’t decipher. 

“They didn’t. I did.” 

Clu whipped around. That voice- a slight echo in his earpieces- That couldn’t possibly be- 

The program that was standing near the terminal walked towards him. And he wore Clu’s face. Clu had never had any brother programs as far as he knew; if he did he hadn’t met them. This program might as well be one for all he knew- and yet. He couldn’t be. There was this feeling. Deep. Deep in Clu’s code. He just knew it. 

“Flynn?” His voice was barely above a whisper. 

Flynn nodded, a somewhat nervous smile on his face. “Heya, Clu.” 

Clu shook his head, pushing Bit away from his face, “Why did you- Why did you bring me back? I failed-” 

“No. No. You didn’t.” Flynn came up now towards the pad, standing in front of him. Clu tried to keep his hands from shaking. 

“But, sir, I-” He cut himself off, remembering his User’s words. 

Flynn frowned, “No. Say what you wanna say. I wanna hear it.” 

“I...I didn’t get your data-” Clu closed his eyes for a moment, “My entire purpose-”

“Yeah well, that’s one of them. But the other one was to learn- Don’t think I didn’t notice those novels you kept picking up, Clu.” Flynn then chuckled to himself, eyes sparkling. 

“I...yes, sir. Of course.” 

“Could I, uh, hug you?” Flynn raised his eyebrows hopefully. Clu could only nod dumbly as his User’s arms wrapped around him. It was the warmest hug Clu had ever had, (though, Clu had only ever had hugs from one other person before). 

Flynn then drew back and squeezed his shoulders heartily. “Man, I can’t believe I finally got to meet you!” 

Clu scoffed at the idea of his User being excited at meeting _him._ It was a strange thought. One that was going to take some time to wrap his head around. Then a thought struck him. His User. He was talking to his User- and programs were supposed to- He’d never been to an I/O tower but- 

He reached behind his back and undocked his disk, and then presented it to Flynn. 

“Sir?” 

Flynn stared at it with wide eyes before taking it delicately, activating it. A wide smile crossed his face, and Clu felt a tiny bit chagrined. 

“Best program I’ve ever written.” Flynn said to him. Clu glanced at the others, knowing that his User had claimed him to be the best program _ever_ written. Well, some things could stay between them. Flynn handed the disk back to him. 

“Wait…” Clu said slowly, a thought finally occurring to him, “How did you get here, sir?” 

“That’s a long story, one we can tell back at HQ-” He squeezed Clu’s shoulder again, “Welcome home, Clu.” 

“Home.” Clu repeated. Yes. That sounded right. 

**Author's Note:**

> *inhales deeply* Ok. Ok. I just wrote like. Way too many words of a fic about a character that was basically immediately killed off in a movie- I just. Ok. Ok. So I guess I could go over some of my characterization choices (if y'all have questions about any stuff, Please ask me! I'll try my best to answer.)  
> So my sources were the movie, that script we have, the novelization, and the wikia page. So. Not a lot. I wanted Clu to be similar to Flynn, but dissimilar enough. A big part of the initial stuff I came up with is because he reminded me of the Flat Characters from Star Trek (Spock, Data, etc.) , and then I built off from there. I also wanted him to be as far from 2 as possible. So for example, Clu's goal is always about learning and bettering himself and others vs 2's need for perfection. What else- Uh. Clu has way choppier hair than Flynn due to a hc that Flynn panic cut his hair when his games originally got stolen and stuff. Clu's skills with an identity disk are mostly due to the fact that in the movie he's one of the characters that does not have one- I also wanted a character who wasn't as handy w/one. (Disk throwing skills probably go: Tron, Ram, Yori, Flynn, Clu. Btw)  
> Clu being a literature nerd was something that popped up after watching Legacy w/Flynn having all those books. So like Flynn is Secretly a Lit nerd, and Clu is Not Secretly a Lit nerd, is what I'm saying. It also amuses me to think Flynn seeing his program accumulating a bunch of book files and just going 'huh, alright,' and never going on with it. Clu is also aro/ace to contrast with the fact I write Flynn as bi.  
> Hide...I honestly don't know where Hide came from, but I'm glad she popped into my brain. mmmm. Sark actually seeing Clu was also important to me just due to that detail in the novel where Sark thinks Flynn is Clu when he sees him.
> 
> That's all I can think of for now...? But uh, yeah, Thanks for reading!!!


End file.
